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A

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY

OF THE

VOYAGES' AND DISCOVERIES

IN THE

SOUTH SEA

OR

PACIFIC OCEAN.

VOLUME V.

To the Year 1764.

BY JAMES BURNEY, F.R.S.

CAPTAIN IN THE ROYAL NAVY.

London:

Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons, near Lincoln's-Inn Fields;
AND SOLD BY G. & W. NICOL, BOOKSELLERS TO HIS MAJESTY, AND T. PAYNE & H. FOSS, PALL-MALL;
LONGMAN, HORST, REES, ORME & BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW; CADELL DAVIES, IN THE STRAND;
NORNAVILLE & FELL, BOND-STREET; AND J. MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREEF.

1817.


ISLANDS OF DOUBTFUL AUTHORITY. 157

CHAP. VIII.

Of Islands marked in the Charts of the Pacifie Ocean, and in the Tables of Situations, concerning which no other notices are found.

      In the early charts and in the old tables of situations, many Islands are marked of which no other notices have come before the public. Most of these are omitted in the charts now in use, being excluded by later discoveries; and some are still retained. They possess nearly alike a kind of traditional authority; and some of them a possibility, nothing to the contrary being known, of being met with at a future period. It is therefore endeavoured here to collect them into one list.

      Among the hydrographic authorities for early Discoveries in the South Sea, the one which has been most generally consulted is the Spanish chart published with the History of Commodore Anson's Voyage, in which the track of the Manila galeon is described; it being more generally known than any other early chart of the Pacific Ocean, in consequence of its being so published. On applying to it, and making the necessary examination, an extraordinary variation is found in it from other charts and from the tables then in use.

      The original from which the chart in Anson was published, was a manuscript chart drawn for the use of the Spanish General of the Galeons, and, it is said, contained all the Discoveries which had at any time been made in the navigation between the Philippine Islands and New Spain. The copy published by Mr. Walter places Acapulco 134° 15' of longitude to the East from the Embocadero de San Bernardino, whereas other charts and

158 OF ISLANDS OF

the tables of situations printed about that time, place Acapulco only 124 1/2° of longitude from the Embocadero. This difference of ten degrees nearly, between the chart in Anson and the other charts, is not one of gradual increase from a commencement at any part, but takes place all at once in the middle of the chart, and ruas through all the Eastern part, the Western not partaking, but being in near agreement with other charts and with the tables. By this sudden disagreement, two banks, that of Manuel Rodriguez and the Baxo de Villa lobos, which are only five degrees of longitude apart in other charts, are made fifteen degrees apart in the chart in Anson, which thus standing alone in opposition to all other authority, must be presumed to be in error. It seems the most natural conjecture, that the original from which it was copied was in two or more separate parts (as is generally the case with the Spanish charts of the navigation between New Spain and the Philippines, which are not on a very small scale, on account of the great extent in longitude) and that the English editor, or the engraver, in joining them, mistook the divisions.

      A table of situations in latitude and longitude was printed at Manila in 1734, in a work entitled Navigacion Especulativa y Pratica, the author of which, Joseph Gonzalez Cabrera Bueno, was an Almirante, and Pilot major in the navigation between the Philippine Islands and New Spain; circumstances which render his work good authority for the Islands which had been discovered in the Northern part of the Pacific. In the following list, which, is not wholly confined to Islands not before noticed, the situations are given from Cabrera Bueno; and in the Western part, also from the chart in Anson.

UNCERTAIN AUTHORITY. 159

      Situations of Islands in the route from the Philippines to Acapulco; the first meridian being taken at the Embocadero de San Bernardino.*

By Bueno's Table.By the Chart in Anson.
Latitude.Longitude.Latitude.Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
Emboc. de S. Bernardino 12 45 N. 00 00{ In the
{ route
{ from
{ the
{ Philippines
{ to
{ Acapulco.
C. del Espiritu Santo 1 15 E.
Baxo de S. Xavier 16 08 6 00
Rocks 17 50 4 35
Abroxos 22 00 6 30 22 00 6 30
Parece Vela 21 12 13 40 21 25 13 46
Vela 21 40 14 55 22 00 14 55

      The three Islands next mentioned were discovered by Bernardo de la Torre in the San Juan, in 1543, and named Los Volcanes. See Vol. I. p. 239. They were seen in the last voyage of Captain Cook; and the Fortuna or Farrallon, which is the middle one of the three (named in the present charts Sulphur Island) was found to be in latitude 24° 48' N; and longitude from Greenwich 141° 20' E (equal to about 17° 35' from the Embocadero de San Bernardino) which is 3° 45' more East than the longitude given to Fortuna in the table of Bueno, and is a ground for correction of the situations of the Islands near it.

By Bueno's Table. By the Chart in Anson.
Latitude. Longitude. Latitude. Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
San Agustin 24 54 14 02 25 00 14 00
Los Volcanes Fortuna, } 25 12 13 50 25 40 13 38
ô Farrallon }
San Alexandro 25 46 13 30 26 15 13 28
Isla del Rosario. Not named }
   in the Chart. } 27 30 12 53 28 00 12 53
Islas del Arzobispo; not named } 26 44 14 03 27 20 13 34
   in the Chart. They are a } to 28 00 to 28 47 to 14 20
   groupe about a degree East- } 27 40 18 00 27 30 17 40
   ward of Rosario, and ex- }
   tending NNW and SSE }

      * The Embocadero de San Bernardino may be taken at 123° 45' E longitude from Greenwich.

160 OF ISLANDS OF

By Bueno's Table. By the Chart in Anson.
Latitude.Longitude.Latitude.Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
Todos los Santos 30 32 15 05
Santo Thomas 30 12 17 30 30 12 18 15
San Matheo 31 05 19 20 31 30 19 00
Pena de dos Picos 32 10 21 06 32 20 21 10
Baxo 32 27 21 01 32 40 21 00
Guadalupe 28 30 20 50 28 55 21 00
Islote 28 12 21 08
Three small Islets Between Guadalupe
and Mal-abrigo.
Mal-abrigo ? North end 27 45 21 14 27 42 21 00
South end of the reefs 26 16 20 47 26 28 21 00
Desea Nasida 26 23 19 56
I. de Patos, o de Lobos 26 18 20 05 25 36 20 25
Desconocido 26 00 20 20 25 12 20 50
Bolcan (or Volcano) N° 1. 33 37 18 40 34 04 18 20
Bolcan N° 2. 25 55 20 30 25 55 21 00
Bolcan N° 3. 24 10 19 36 24 20 19 20
Bolcan N° 4. 23 40 18 55 24 00 18 40
Farellon de Paxaros 20 52 19 30 21 12 19 30

      The Farellon de Paxaros is the most Northern of the Marianas or Ladrones, being to the North of Urac, which is the most Northern in the chart of P. Alonzo Lopez. Texeira carries the Ladrones still further North, making them extend to 22° 00' N latitude. [See Vol. III opposite to p. 293.]

By Bueno's Table. By the Chart in Anson.
Latitude. Longitude. Latitude. Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
Los Jardines 20 12 25 54 20 12 26 00
to 21 00 to 26 35 to 21 48 to 28 45
I. de Sebastian Lopez, ô de Lobos 24 55 29 13 25 20 29 30
Colunas 27 57 31 10 29 00 31 00
28 30 30 45 29 45 30 30
28 28 31 12
An Island 23 05 32 50

      For the Islands M. the route from Acapulco to the Philippines, most of the situations which appear in the chart of the track of the galeon in Commodore Anson's voyage, would require a

UNCERTAIN AUTHORITY. 161

deduction of ten degrees from the longitude. In preference to which, two Spanish manuscript charts, one by Joseph Belverde, A pilot, the other without the author's name, and both without dates, but which in the delineation and in the writing are after the manner in use in the early part of the last century, have been recurred to for joint testimony with the table of Cabrera Bueno.

Islands in the route from Acapulco to the Philippines.

By Bueno's Table.Spanish MS. Charts.
Latitude.Longitude.Latitude.Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
Acapulco 1243012435  {In
Isle de Paxaros 26 23 9105 27 00 8745  {the
Ulloa 22 23 9315 23 06 8900  {Route
La Desgraciada 19 45 9150 19 45 8805  {from
La Mesa, o la Mira 29 23 9020 18 50 8730  {Acapulco
Los Monges 19 33 8900 19 15 8535  {to the
20 15 8920 20 15 8600  {Philippines.

      La Mesa and los Manges are supposed to be the Islands at present named the Sandwich Islands, but the longitude in which tbey were found by Captain Cook has been an objection. La Mesa (supposed to be the Island Owhyhee) is laid down in the chart shewing the track of the galeon, 100° 30' E from the Emboc. de San Bernardino, which is equal to 224° 15' E or Greenwich. Owhyhee, the body of it, according to modern observations, is in 203 1/2° longitude E of Greenwich, which is a difference of above 20 degrees, and a larger error than can be conceived to have been made in so short a run as from the coast of New Spain. But according to Bueno's table, la Mesa is 214° 05' E of Greenwich, which differs from the known longitude of Owhyhee only 10° 35'; and the manuscript chart quoted gives the difference not quite eight degrees. The name la Mesa signifying the Table, is descriptive of the high level land of Owhyhee. The latitude accords; la Mesa also is laid down to the SE of the other Islands; all which leaves little reason to doubt the identity of la Mesa and Owhyhee.

162 OF ISLANDS OF UNCERTAIN AUTHORITY.

List continued.

By Bueno's Table.Spanish MS. Charts.
Latitude.Longitude.Latitude.Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
An Island 2010 7730
Isla de San Francisco 19 30 73 35 2020 7415
Baxo de Manuel Rodriguez 11 20 68 52 1200 7210
to 67 45 to 1240to 7030
Baxo de Villalobos 14 53 62 54 1518 6700
to 61 50 to 1545to 6500
Barbudos 9 05 54 25 1020 5710
Baxo 10 16 52 18 1100 5400

      Between the parallels of 8° N and 12° N, and in longitude from 23° E to 42' E from the Emb. de San Bernardino, many banks and reefs are laid down in the old charts, and some notices inserted of them in the Tables. The Islands Westward, and between the parallel of these and the equinoctial line, have been considered as belonging to the Carolinas Islands.

More Northward on the Charts, are

Latitude.Longitude.Latitude.Longitude.
° ' ° ' ° ' ° '
Desierta 20284200
La Mira 20404030
Disierta 23403642
Bolcan 22353630
La Mira 21243606
San Bartholome* 14 00 36 0014163700

      * San Bartholome is mentioned in the account of its discovery as a single Island. See Vol. I. p. 138. In 1807, the Lord Cornwallis, an English ship, being in latitude 14° 30' N, and longitude 168° 42' E from Greenwich, saw five Islands with a reef running from them to the SE, the whole extending about 20 miles. Notwithstanding the being mentioned as a single Island in the old accounts, and so marked in the Spanish charts, it is probable that the small groupe seen by the Lord Cornwallis is the San Bartholome, as no certainty appears of other land being near that situation.

Source:

      The chapter transcribed above is from Volume 5, pages 157-162 of Burney's work cited below:

James Burney.
      A chronological history of the discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean; illustrated with charts.
    London: Printed by Luke Hansard, 1803-1817. 5 v. : ill., plates, maps ; 32 cm.


Last updated by Tom Tyler, Denver, CO, USA, Dec 1 2021.


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